Very few companies have dared to issue forecasts capturing the damage, though traders are girding for discouraging results in the next few weeks as earnings reporting season begins.

Many companies have simply withdrawn their profit forecasts altogether.

At the start of this year, analysts expected S&P 500 companies’ earnings would grow 4.4% in the January-March quarter.

They now expect earnings will be down 4.1%, according to FactSet.

Earnings for airlines, which have been hit by lost bookings as businesses and individuals cancelled travel plans to minimise their risk of contracting the virus, are expected to be catastrophic. Delta went from an expected 2.2% decline to a 108% plunge.